Character Analysis part 1
If I were to describe Ikaris in one sentence it would be, "The tragic hero hiding behind the mask of the loyal soldier."
Out of the Eternals, Ikaris is by far the most complex. You have no chance of understanding his character during the first watch of the movie unless you were looking to him specifically. His story was hidden and buried in a number of layered storylines such as the threat of the emergence, the death of Ajak, Sersi becoming the prime eternal and the age-old conflict between the eternals and deviants.
If you were to set aside all those storyline and look at him alone, you'll find that Ikaris - at his core - was a hero forced to make hard decisions he did not what to do....
"I didn't want to leave." - Ikaris in the Amazons when confronted by Sersi on why he left.
....but he was led to believe he had to because that was his purpose in life. His fatal flaw was loyalty and it was exploited thoroughly by Ajak. Ajak started to have doubts about the mission back in Babylon. When Arishem shot down her doubts, she turned to Ikaris to reassure her faith.
"Your faith in Arishem is strong." - Ajak, on the balcony during the Babylon feast gathering.
But Ajak got it wrong, Ikaris did not have faith. He had loyalty and that loyalty - first and foremost - belonged to their team, their family. Ajak twisted it over the centuries, turning it into the blind loyalty seen im the movie which caused Ikaris, his heart (Sersi).
The victim of non-linear storytelling.
Ikaris' story was told in bits and pieces throughout the movie. It takes an attentive watcher looking specifically at Ikaris to catch the hints amd subtle messeges thrown throughout his scenes when you are still watching the film for the first time. If you don't, then I am not surprised they went over so many people's head.
The point was, Ikaris' story was not the main one so his arc was buried under layers and layers of other stories. See, Eternals isn't just one story being told, its a series of stories spread out in one movie. Each Eternal had their own character arcs as they lived for years on earth. No wonder, a lot of people found it overwhelming. The focus was Sersi's arc because she was to be the hero that saves the world and the movie is a superhero film.
Ikaris was the victim of this narrative. He was the ploy to Sersi's arc. The antagonist to her protagonist. But understand this fact, the antagonist is not the same as being the villain and Ikaris was never the villain. He was the misunderstood victim at most.
Hero to Soldier: 2000 year tragedy
In the beginning, Ikaris was the shining hero of the team, the point of the lance, the tip in an arrow, the person that put himself in danger so that the others don't have to. He is ridiculously durable as a result.
Ikaris' way of fighting also reflects his core personality trait. He is selfless, never caring for his own well-being if it meant he could save others. He thought his purpose was to protect humanity from the deviants and he was doing a - damn - great job at it. He said as much to Ajak back in Babylon.
When Ajak started to have her doubts, she used Ikaris' loyalty - which she mistook as faith - to reassure herself that their path was right and just, that the celestial's design was the correct path to take. Ajak - after leaving Babylon - told Ikaris about the emergence and all that entailed.
Upon learning the secret, Ikaris was confused and devastated. He would have questioned his entire existance.
Imagine being told that everything you have grown to care about, to appreciate and admire is something you were created to destroy. If the emergence - an event that crumbles a planet - is their purpose for being put on earth then the life he had build - to protect humans so that they could survive and strive - was a lie.
The scene when Ajak told Ikaris this secret would mirror this scene in Australia, just push back 2000 years into the past.
In the span of those centuries, Ikaris would have gone the stages of grief - denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Compare that to the others who were just told and thus were still in their denial phase. Unlike the others too, Ikaris had to deal with all those stage ALONE.
Being now incapable of connecting to humanity, Ikaris latch onto those he still had, his family - the other eternals - and his beloved - Sersi. Yet slowly, those were taken away from him too - either by Ajak's misintentioned decision of splitting up the team or by his own selflessness when he decided to leave his wife of a millenia so that he could never take away her happiness by accidentally telling her about the emergence and that their purpose was to see the inevitable end of the planet she loved.
With nothing more to protect, Ikaris kept his sanity by giving his loyalty to the one thing he had left - the emergence. Thus, Ikaris lived in constant vigil - becoming the silent sentinal to a world that no longer needed him. By the turn of the 20th century, Ikaris was no longer the hero that protected, rather he was the soldier that only followed orders.
Ajak and Ikaris: Mother&Son or Commander&Soldier
Hero vs Soldier: the flickering flame of a hero
origamiaround
stormborns
gracieabrams
discoholicmusic
